βThe story is told of a certain African tribe that learned an easy way to capture ducks in a river. Catching their agile and wary dinner would be a feat indeed, so they formulated a plan.
βThe tribesmen learned to go upstream, place a pumpkin in the river, and let it slowly float down into the flock of ducks. At first, the cautious fowl would quack and fly away. After all, it wasnβt ordinary for pumpkins to float down the river! But the persistent tribesmen would subsequently float another pumpkin into the re-gathered ducks. Again they would scatter, only to return after the strange sphere had passed. Again, the hungry hunters would float another pumpkin. This time the ducks would remain, with a cautious eye on the pumpkin; and with each successive passing, the ducks would become more comfortable, until they finally accepted the pumpkins as a normal part of life.
βWhen the natives saw that the pumpkins no longer bothered the ducks, they hollowed out pumpkins, put them over their heads, and walked into the river. Meandering into the midst of the tolerant fowl, they pulled them down one at a time. Dinner? Roast duck.β
There is much deception in this world. We need to be cautious and on guard with the things we hear and read. In life, the pumpkins of false doctrine and error keep subtly coming at us. There are dangerous teachings around us at all times. Sometimes because of the volume of information coming at us through television, radio, the internet, and social media, we let our guard down and we begin tolerating them. We can feel safe when we are not. We can very easily get caught in βthe snare of the devilβ (2 Tim.Β 2:26) and be led astray into error and unsound doctrine if we donβt keep our focus on the truth of the Word, rightly divided.
βBut evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceivedβ (2 Tim.Β 3:13).
This verse shows that Paul had no grand illusions that the world would become better and better. Rather, by divine revelation, he wrote that things and people will only get βworse and worse.β Paul informs us that, as the dispensation of grace progresses, deception will only go from bad to worse, and it will get so bad and out of hand that deceivers will believe their own lies.
Weβre never going to right all the wrongs or correct all the lies people believe. Itβs a waste of valuable time to try. We simply need to keep our focus on the truth and the proclamation of it. We need to do what Paul instructed Timothy to do, to βcontinueβ or remain steadfast in the teachings of βthe Word of His graceβ (ActsΒ 20:32) that the Lord committed to Paul. We must βcontinueβ to stand for the message of grace committed to the Apostle Paul and βcontinueβ to grow in our knowledge of it. By knowing and obeying Godβs truth for today as found in the letters of Paul, we are protected from falling prey to the devilβs schemes and being pulled down into error and false doctrine. source
